Scrap tobacco cleaning mechanism



Aug. 20, 1935. R. E. RUNDELL SCRAP TOBACCO CLEANING MECHANISM Fil'ed Feb. 8, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l lNvEN R Y -BY d// 7 ,.Z

ATTORNEY Aug 20, i935 f R. E. RLJNDEYLL, 2,012,250

SCRAP TOBACCO CLEANING MECHANI-SM Filed F'eb. 8, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIC-3.3

P fg n/Z W /f f l 1L PatenfeclAu'g. 20,1935 i 2,(ll2,250

. UNITED! STATES; PATENT OFQPICEA SCRAP'IOBACCO CLEANING MECHANISM Rupert E. Rundell, Rockville Centre, N. Y., as-

signor, by mesne assignments, to American ,Machine & Foundry Company, a corporation lApplication February s, 1934, serial No. 710,334 i s claims. (C1.13157-)' This invention relates to an improved tobacco. take communicating with the screened outlet of cleaning mechanism useful in combination with the housing, a dust collecting chamber, a rotary tobacco stemming machines or other machines streamlined disk within said chamber and hav-- in which it is desired to remove dust from toung its rim slightly spaced from the interior of bacco, especially those wherein scrap tobacco is said chamber to provide an annular opening into handled or produced. said chamber, a scroll-shaped discharge adjacent It is the object of. this invention to provide a said chamber, and 'hyperboloidal blades on said tobacco cleaning device for suchfmachines which disk operative upon rotation of the disk to. aw utilizes a new method of dust control and therethe dust-laden air through-said intake from the by eliminates the use of large pipe systems and screened outlet of the housing and separate the 10 air cleaners necessary in most prior constructions dust from the dust-laden air and deliver the for discharging the dust-laden air.- With vthe dust into said chamber through -the annular present arrangement itis unnecessary to blow opening while delivering the cleaned air to saidthe air, which still retains a little, dust, out into discharge. The various means and parts may be the room or conduct it out, through the roof, Widely varied in construction for the particular .15 which latter arrangement is objectionable where device selected to illustrate the inventionis but the air in the room is conditioned in that it` one of many possible concrete embodiments of causes a large loss of conditioned air. the same. The invention, therefore, is not to be' In the embodiment illustrating the invention restricted to the specific construction shown and r a-standar'd air exhauster and dust precipitator described: 20

of the Turbo-Clone type is shown in connec- The butt thresherof the tobacco stemming tion with 'the butt threshing element or beater machine which is enclosed in e housing I0, has box of a. tobacco stemming machine. The dust, thepurpose of cleaning the Stem buttsS of lamine which is created during the beating and cleanin order to facilitate the seizure of the stem butts ing of the tobacco leaf stemfisdrawn out of the by gripping devices (not shown). The butt 25' machine through a traveling screen` and then thresher consists of two noppositely revolving deposited in the precipitator and the clean air shafts II/ upon -which, are mounted blocks I2 is expelled therefrom. having va number of lugs I3 in which are pivoted With these and other objects not specifically rows of beaters'or flails I 4. The tobacco leaves L mentioned in view, the invention consists in cerare guided through the thresher'by feed belts 3G tain constructions and combinations hereinafter I5 and I6 and an endless clamping belt I'I. Belts fully described and then specifically set forth in I5 and I6 are supported and guided by means the claims hereunto appended. of a bracket lattached to housing I0. One In the accompanying drawings in which like side of the latter is provided with an outlet-over characters of reference indicate the same or like which an endless screen I9 is located. Screen I9 35 partSI is continuously driven by means 4of a roller 20 g Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation of the butt and supported and guided byineans of rollers 2l, thresher or beater box, of a tobacco stemming 22 and 23. The screened outlet of the housing -machine provided with an air exhauster and I0 communicates with the intake 24 of the ex.,

Y dust Separator; hauster and dust separator 25. The violent ac- 49 Fig. 2 is a schematic sectional diagram of the tion. of the beaters I4 upon the stern ,butts SI air exhauster and dust separator showing the creates a considerable amount of dust D which method ofA precipitating and collecting the dust; ordinarily would mix with the openair in the and room unless conducted out through the roof -Fig. 3 is a sectional front elevation of the butt but the exhauster and dust separator -25 draws 45'- thIeShel taken Online 3-3 0f Fig- 1. A the dust-laden air through the traveling screen In carrying the invention into effect there is I9, arrests the dust D in a receptacle 26 and exprovided va butt thresher housing having 'an out-l- -pels the clean air. The heavy particles of tobacco let, a traveling screen covering saidV outlet, and removed from the stems S cannot pass through a dust separator operating to suck dust laden air the screen and therefore fall to the bottom of 50 out of said housing through said screen, whereby the butt thresher, which is usually equipped with the dust is precipitated insaid separator and aremovable chamber (not shown). vAs part o f larger tobacco particles ,are excludedv from` the the dust D passingv through the screen may stick separator by said screen. In the best construci to the same, a rotary cleaning brush 21 is pro-1 tions contemplated the separator includes an invided .tq'assure a clean screen at all times. Rotary 55 brush 2'| and roller 20 are driven by means of belts 28 and 29, respectively, from the main cone 30 and a multiplicity of hyperboloidal blades 3| carried by a streamlined disk 32 which is secured to cone 30, the latter being mounted on a shaft 33 driven by a motor 34. The rotation of blades 3| draws the dust laden air from the housing and the dust particles upon entering the exhauster continue their travel until intercepted by the disk 32 and then follow the curvature of its surface. Lighter particles are intercepted by blades 3| which, due to their shape and rapid motion, cause the particles to be precipitated on their advancing surfaces. The contour of the blades is such that the precipitated dust particles move outward due to the centrifugal force toward the tip of theblade. At the region wherethe heavier and lighter dust particles converge is a comparatively narrow annular opening 35 between the rim of disk 32 and the interior flange of surl rounding annular chamber 36 through which the dust D escapes. The cleaned air F is discharged into the scroll-shaped discharge 31 from which it may be exhausted into the room or re-directed into the butt thresher housing. From the annular collecting chamber 36 the dust is converged by means of a secondary air current maintained by the prolonger tips of the blades 3| into a receptacle 26.

What is claimed is: l

1. The combination with a butt thresher of a tobacco stemmingmachine provided with a housing having an outlet, of a traveling screen covering said outlet, and a dust separator operating to suck dust-laden air out of said housing through said screen, whereby the dust isprecipitated in said separator and larger tobacco particles are excluded from the separator by said screen.

2. The combination with a butt thresher of a tobacco stemming machine provided with a housing having an outlet, of an endless traveling screen covering said outlet, a dust separator operating to suck dust-laden air out of said housing through said screen, and a rotary brush for cleaning said screen, whereby the dust is precipitated in said separator and larger tobacco particles are excluded from the separator by said screen.

3. 'I'he combination with a tobacco stemmingI machine butt thresher having a housing provided with an outlet, of an endless traveling screen covering said outlet, a dust separator operating to suck dust-laden air out of said housing through said screen, and a rotary brush for cleaning said screen, whereby the dust is precipitatedin said separator and larger particles are excluded from the separator by said screen, said separator in.- cluding an intake communicating with the-screened outlet of the housing, a dust collecting chamber, a rotary streamlined disk within said chamber and having its rim slightlyr spaced from the interior voi said chamber to provide an annular opening into said chamber, a scroll-shaped discharge adjacent said chamber, and hyperbolo'idal blades on said disk operative upon rotation of said disk to draw the dust-laden air through said intake from the screened outlet of the housing and separate the dust from the dustladen air and deliver the dust into said chamber through the annular opening while delivering the clean air to said discharge.

4. In a tobacco leaf treating mechanism, the combination with a housing having an outlet, of meansA for gripping tobacco leaves and forwarding them with their butts exposed through said housing, means'for stripping the blade portions of the leaf from said exposed butts, a screen in said outlet, a suction conduit drawing dust-laden air through said screen, and means co-operating with said screen to remove leaf pieces therefrom.

5. In a tobacco leaf treating mechanism, the combination with a housing having an outlet, of means having opposed traveling surfaces for gripping tobacco leaves and -forwarding them sidewise through said housing, beaters in said housing for beating the leaves operating to stir up the dust and dirt thereon, a traveling screen extending across said outlet, and suction means connected to said outlet for drawing the dust stirred up by said beaters from said enclosure through said screen.

6. In a tobacco stemrningmachine, the combination with a horizontal feed table, of endless traveling supporting means on said table for forwarding tobacco leaves laid side by side thereon with the `butt portions extending in 'one direction, butt stripping means, having stripping elements moving lengthwise of said portions toward the butt ends of the leaves during the stripping operation, a housing enclosing said butt portions having an outlet facing the 'ends of said butt `portions to receive dust thrown by said elements,

and suction means arranged lto draw the dust through said outlet.

'7. In altobaccov stemming machine, the combination with means for forwarding tobacco leaves with their butts extending in the same direction, of butt stripping means acting on said butts, and pneumatic means for separating and separately delivering -the dust and the tobacco scraps resulting from the butt stripping operation.

8. In a tobacco stemming machine, the combination with devices for gripping tobacco leaves and forwarding the same side by side, of stripping mechanism for removing leaf portions from the gripped leaves, a housing enclosing said stripping means, and means co-operating with said housing to separately-deliver dust and stripped tobacco therefrom, said means including a dust outlet in said housing, suction means communieating with said outlet, and mechanism co-operating with said suction means to separate the stripped tobacco from air and dust drawn through said outlet.

RUPERT E. RUNDELL. 

